Journey’s Marathon
Eagle River, Wisconsin
Saturday, May 9, 2009

The Journey’s Marathon was held on Saturday, May 9, 2009 in Eagle River, Wisconsin. It was cold as the temperature ranged between 36 and 42 degrees. The sky was cloudy and the 5 to 10 mph wind was mainly blocked by the North Woods pines and aspens which for the most part lined the course, interrupted by lakes and cabins along the lakes. Water/Gatorade stations were spaced every two miles until mile 21 when they were spaced every mile. There were plenty of enthusiastic volunteers at each station to attend the needs of the 105 finishers in the marathon and 510 finishers in the half marathon. I was especially appreciative of their efforts as it had to be bitterly cold standing at the station. The course was open to traffic; however, there were only a few vehicles with which to contend and for the most part were respectful to the participants. The entire event was extremely well organized with both a pre-race and a post race meal available for a very reasonable cost. Even though the course was somewhat challenging with small hills especially in the first half of the marathon, I would recommend this small friendly event to anyone who wants to race away from the big city.
At the pre-race spaghetti meal I talked with the president of the Eagle River Chamber of Commerce about my journeys through out the United States. To my great surprise on race day, he had the local NBC TV station Sport’s Anchor, George Savaricas, interview my wife, Gerda, and myself about our travels to the fifty states where I have done a marathon in each of the states and Gerda has done a half marathon in 39 of the states and is expected to complete her 50 states on November 1, 2009. George even video taped me at many places throughout the race. This just made the event even more enjoyable.